37. Eremocrinum M. E. Jones, Zoë. 4: 53. 1893.
Sand lily [Greek eremos, desert, and krinon, lily]
James L. Reveal & Frederick H. Utech
Herbs, perennial, caulescent, glabrous, from short, vertical rhizomes with fleshy roots. Leaves 8–12, basal, tufted, each tuft surrounded basally by fibrous, persistent sheaths; blade linear. Inflorescences terminal, racemose, spikelike, elongate, dense, bracteate. Flowers rather showy, not obviously fragrant; perianth persistent, white to greenish white, with 3 greenish to brown stripes, these confluent terminally; tepals 6, shortly connate proximally, spreading distally, oblong, equal; perianth tube stipelike; stamens 6, hypogynous, 1-seriate; filaments linear, flattened, ca. 1/2 length of tepals; anthers basifixed, becoming strongly incurved, introrse; ovary superior, 3-locular, ovules few per locule; style filiform, elongate; stigma discoid; pedicel short, slender, subtended by scarious bract. Fruits capsular, 3-lobed, globose, dehiscence loculicidal. Seeds 4–8(–12), black, angled.
Species 1: s Utah and n Arizona.
